The English Graduate Organization of Western Illinois University invitessubmissions to our fifth annual conference, â€œThe Body: Images,Perceptions, and Representations.â€ The human body is a topic of bothsignificance and curiosity amongst various disciplines and discoursecommunities. In history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, rhetoric andliterature, the body serves as a symbol, metaphor, and inspiration formany larger aspects of human nature. For this reason, we will be hostingour annual conference November 8, 2008 to consider the roles of the bodyin literature and the overall fascination with the human form. Ourkeynote speaker will be Martha Stoddard Holmes, Assistant Professor andGraduate Program Advisor at California State University in San Marcos.Stoddard was trained as a fiction writer and scholar in Victorianliterature and culture and specializes in Disability Studies.Possible paper topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

â€¢ â€¢ Disability Studiesâ€¢ â€¢ The role of literature in body, spiritual, andmental wellnessâ€¢ â€¢ The national and social body in literatureâ€¢ â€¢ Aesthetics of the bodyâ€¢ â€¢ Roles or extensions of the body in labor andtechnologyâ€¢ â€¢ Celebrated and oppressed bodiesâ€¢ â€¢ Intersections of religion and the bodyâ€¢ â€¢ Colonialism and the bodyâ€¢ â€¢ Gender studies and representations of the maleand female bodyâ€¢ Accessibility in online environmentsâ€¢ The body and science fiction studiesâ€¢ Pedagogy of the bodyâ€¢ Rhetorical considerations of the bodyâ€¢ The place of the body in popular culturePlease send a 150-200 word abstract, along with name and email to en-brackman_at_wiu.edu by September 15, 2008.